


Kharbranth

by nocturnaofspace



Series: Roshar Travel Journals [1]
Category: Cosmere - Brandon Sanderson, Stormlight Archive - Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Diary/Journal, F/M, Kharbranth, Self-Insert, trying to get back to the real world
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-30 20:49:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14505204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nocturnaofspace/pseuds/nocturnaofspace
Summary: We arrived in Kharbranth today. It’s even more amazing than it was described in the book but I guess that’s just Roshar for you…





	Kharbranth

**Author's Note:**

> This is dedicated to my boyfriend who recommend the stormlight archive to me.

Day 34 entry 15

We arrived in Kharbranth today. It’s even more amazing than it was described in the book but I guess that’s just Roshar for you… Anyways as much as I want to just sit and gawk at the beautiful layers of the city (it has a strong resemblance to Minas Tirith in the way it’s positioned between the cliffs) we have to find a way into the Palanaeum, preferably without paying. It’s amazing that we even got this far without any spheres, but the steep prices to get in to the mega library… Raymond can’t talk his way through this one, even with our extensive knowledge of the books especially since here he’s a dark eyes. Everyone looks to me as if I am in charge or something, why couldn’t we just switch eyes for the time being! But I digress, I should just feel lucky we were able to steal a Hava off of a closeline close to the bottom of the Horneater mountains. God knows jeans would not cut it for a ‘woman’ in Voran society. The idea is to blend in as much as we can… which is difficult seeing as we both have pale skin and our eyes aren’t slanted, also my hair is blond… I was thinking about dying it before this all happened but noooooooo I didn’t… and now I stand out like a… well like us in a crowd of Alethi. Luckily this society is reserved and there are always lots of kinds of people in port cities like Kharbranth. Maybe people will just think we have some weird Shin blood or something. 

Raymond thinks we should do some work and earn some spheres, which is a pretty solid idea, but I’m worried about him doing manual labour. We do have one of his inhalers tucked away with our dead phones in my safe pouch where no one would think to look. It was one way we could abuse the codes of conduct in this foreign land. But we only have one inhaler and it's not like he can take it out in the open. There's no plastic here, or aluminium. I keep telling him that if Night Blood shows up we could use the little container to mount a very silly offence… Raymond doesn’t think it’s as funny as I do, he also says I’m more worried about him then I should be.

The only other viable option for spheres is for me to read and write. Which we could both do if it weren’t for stupid Vorinisum and stupid rules about mens and womens arts. It also means he can’t help me in the Palanaeum, though maybe I can get him in to ‘help carry my books?’ We’ll have to see. By some grace of some god (or a shard of one) we can both speak, understand, read, and write Alethi. It sounds just like english to us, save for differing slang. 

Any way it’s time for me to get going. Raymond is looking at me with a stern expression that he reserves for when my selective hearing starts up again. It’s more than likely that he asked me to stop writing two or three times without a response. 

Apparent World Hopper, Meagan.

…

Day 35 entry 16

Raymond keeps asking me if I keep the cipher in my safe pouch (which I do, it’s not like I’d write these entrees in anything other than the cipher, I’m not that stupid). Sometimes it seems as if he’s more obsessive about things then me! It’s hard to tell which one of us is the most upset by the events that lead us here… I’ve definitely had my share of panic attacks and I know Raymond has had at least five or six. The worst is when my brain spaces out because of withdrawal from my meds. Raymond was lucky enough to have his inhaler in his jacket pocket, I was not so lucky. To Raymond’s credit he’s helped me through all of it. Even stroking my back as I vomited onto the side of the road, and holding me close when compulsions felt too much to handle. It’s been a month and I still have good and bad days. Raymond thinks that I could be relapsing into clinical depression. Whatever it is it feels super shitty. 

Thankfully I was well enough to try and do some scribing for a small bookstore on the outskirts of the city. It was only a few hours of work, but my hand cramped up really badly after only an hour. FYI that’s why this entry will be shorter than the rest of them. We got two diamond chips... which isn’t a lot but it’ll have to do. Especially since it’s super hard to pick plants here (since they all zip back down into their burrows the second we approach them). We did get sort of lucky with fruit on the way here, other than that we stole or otherwise bartered for food and sometimes even shelter from highstorms. I still can’t sleep through them and we’ve been through at least five or six? IDK I’ve been trying to keep track, but it's hard seeing as keeping track of time here is so difficult (considering the five day week and that the year here is longer but we don’t know by how much). I know we left on June 8th… but here their months are called different things and I didn’t pay much attention to the calendar in the book. It's driving me crazy!

Meagan, professional scribe... apparently.

Day 37, Ongoing list of things to look up at the Palanaeum   
Anything to do with world hoppers (check the fantasy section?)  
How the calendar works here! Because omg help!   
If there's anything we can use for asthma relief once the inhaler runs out.   
Rosharian anxiety meds… hopefully?   
Geography (copy a map of some kind)   
Edible plants   
Ask Raymond if I missed anything

Day 45 entry 17 

It’s been six weeks. Six whole earth weeks since we were last home, though my perspective of home has broadened a lot in that time. Sometimes all I can think of is normal grass and grass stains on my jeans. 

Raymond has basically figured out how spheres work here. I’m leaving most of the money to him, which is difficult. He often reaches for paper and a charcoal pencil without thinking, even in public. I can’t blame him, I still have trouble not using my left hand. I don’t like being restricted, neither does he I think. 

We saw a certain red headed girl today. I don’t think she could be anything else, Raymond (the realist) tells me to be patient and not to get my hopes up to much. As the days go by he seems to have a more fatalistic view of getting out of the Cosmere. But if I’m correct then it’s only a few short months until the events at the end of book two come to pass. We decided that we weren’t going to go to the Shattered Plains as the other storm will hit hard there. Anyways a gateway will open here almost immediately after if we need to get to the ancient city. (sorry for not being so specific, it’s safer this way). In the aftermath it may be possible for us to sneak into that dastardly library and get the information we need. I just don’t know if we can wait that long. 

On a lighter note, I keep forgetting to talk about our aliases. We adopted them in the first town we came across. I’m Ahnnah (following the naming convention of slightly asymmetric names), and Raymond is currently going by Rayvin. Rayvin isn’t a normal name here but it’s not outstanding in any way. Raymond was a little skeptical about changing our names but I reminded him of the true names trope. Meanings in names are a constant in the fantasy genre, and I didn’t want to get caught in something so simple as letting a name slip. I still think his alias is too close to his real name, but we also don’t have any evidence to support my theory. Hopefully I’m just being paranoid, though it is true that most (if not all) world hoppers use different names then their own. Anyways I think Raymond is born of sunshine, or moonbeams, or something bright that has rays. 

Meagan, record keeper 

Day 47, entry 18 

We had a stroke of luck in the last highstorm and god we needed it. I took a walk outside the city just after most of the storm had passed. It was still raining pretty hard but I was still able to see the glowing patch of dirt just off the road, probably where someone thought no one would see it. 

It was just below the surface of the earth (or Roshar, or dirt, or whatever it’s called here). So after I cleared it away I found a rough sack full of spheres. I looked around and didn’t see anyone at all so I just took it, uncontested. Getting them back into the city was a little more difficult though. I was able to wrap them up in my cloak a few times and hold them with my safe hand, and was able to sneak them into the small apartment / room thing that we have rented. 

I’ve wondered a bit about who put them there, but I guess it’s really their fault for leaving that many spheres out in the rain. Raymond thinks it was a bit of a bad idea to take, but he’s happy I’m back safe. He also mentioned how I detach myself from these people so easily. I never really thought about that before. I guess it’s because they’re all just characters to me. They’re not people, not real people anyways. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not… I generally don’t like the idea of seeing anyone as sub-human. Still it’s weird that all of these people have lives, hopes, dreams… that they all operate inside of the story, we both know so well, unseen. 

Meagan, a vaguely real human being

Day 48, Inventory #2 

2 vaguely waterproof cloaks (Rosharans are good at the whole dealing with water thing)  
1 destroyed hava (though it is still functional)   
1 set of clothes for Raymond (pants and shirt)   
1 blue inhaler  
2 backpacky sorts of things  
At least two meals left of spicy men’s food (I think it may be a curry)  
A loaf of bread  
3 weird fruits I don’t know the name of  
1 notebook  
2 pens   
One charcoal pencil   
Spheres - 3 emerald broams  
5 sapphire marks   
2 diamond marks  
10 diamond chips 

Day 50, Entry 19

It’s been 50 days since we were whisked away from our world and into this one. I guess I’d like to take this opportunity to talk about our experience at Cultivation’s Perpendicularity. 

It started when we decided to drive out to the lake. I’ve often thought how hilarious it would have been if the car had come with us to, but thankfully it didn’t. We got to my parent’s cabin ok, unpacked and ate dinner. We spent the night there and had breakfast in the morning. After that I made a lunch and we set off for a short walk to another cottage community called Lakeshore Heights. So we made it up to the old railroad tracks easily enough, nothing to suspicious happened for a while and we were probably a good halfway there when I felt a jolt of electricity going through my body, almost as if I had been hit by lightning. The sky wasn’t even dark, there was no rain, and after I talked to Raymond I found out he had felt it to. After we recovered from the shock I noticed that our surroundings had changed. 

It’s kinda hard to describe what Roshar looks like, but my best comparison to something on earth would be a coral reef. I already knew that most of the creatures had exoskeletons and looked very crustiation like, but I really didn’t expect it to be so drastic. The trees were strangely coloured, without leaves, and the ground was full of rocks and a substance that I now know is crem. I guess it makes sense that a world that has so many storms that the ground would look like the ocean floor. I guess I was expecting more green, not greys and reds. This world seems to match the Parshmen very well. They look like they belong here, unlike humans. Of course no one here knows about the colonization… yet. 

I guess I really haven’t talked about the Parshmen yet. As much as I wish that the red haired girl we saw the other day would draw us a nice picture to include with this entry I feel that is hardly likely. Anyways we want to mess up as little as possible, as sad as that may seem it means that we don’t get to meet any political / war leaders, their offspring, red haired girls, or a certain ‘shash’ branded slave. But this is all besides the point. 

The Parshmen are pretty much as described in the books. They basically look like very nice versions of Darth Maul (without the horns). They seem gentle and kind. They barely speak and in our entire time on Roshar I think I’ve heard one speak. I wish we could hear their rhythms; I wish they could hear the listeners rhythms too. They were always described as so pretty… at least by others of their kind. I guess human’s only interaction until this point has been war songs, but they can’t all be songs of war and destruction. 

The Parshmen mostly wear ratty clothes, like the kind that you would assume a slave would wear. The women also cover their left hand but mostly just with a glove. I’ve seen some wearing Havas but not often. I assume that they would be employed by very wealthy families within this city. 

I wish I could do something to help them, but the politics of this world are so fucked up… it’s so difficult to figure out who’s right. I really don’t want to get into this. 

Slightly confused, Meagan

P.S. I know that we could have traveled to Shadesmar but we both decided that it would be a bad idea considering the dangers of traveling between realms. It’s best to find out more information and doing the thing that is less likely to get us killed. We would prefer to not get killed. 

Day 51, Cypher

The cypher is pretty simple. It’s just Tolkien elvish, which is great because the script is completely different. Even if I am writing in english (or Alethi, or however this works) no one’s gonna be able to figure it out. The vowels are on top of the consonants for fucks sakes, they would have a better time translating the Dawn Chant without the visions. Hopefully it works, and if anyone finds this they won’t be able to translate it. There also has to be some weird irony that I’m writing this in Tengwar. At least if someone from Earth finds this they might be able to translate it and find out what happened to us. Personally I’d like to go home and translate it myself.

Meagan, Professional nerd

Day 53, entry 20 

We got new clothes today. We decided to wait a few days after I found the spheres just for extra security. We’ve also continued our jobs just to stop people from being suspicious. People don’t just leave 3 emerald broams and 5 sapphire marks out in a high storm without any security… but in this case it seems to be true. Still I’d rather stay safe. 

Raymond is now dressed like the average citizen, and I have two new havas. Acting sort of natural will be a little bit easier now. Looking the part is half the battle to getting into the library. It seems impossible for us to make enough money to even begin searching for the information we need. I’ve been referring to it as ‘The Palanaeum Heist’ which is technically incorrect as we don’t plan on stealing anything. I just like the idea of being in a heist. 

We have considered other plans, like finding Tanavast in Kholinar or trying to run into Hoid (we do know where he will be at specific times). I don’t know, Raymond didn’t like the idea of camping out in some strange Roshar bush with a pair of fabrial enhanced binoculars watching ‘people of interest’ relentlessly. Personally I think that would be a great idea, but I also think my idea is bias and also kinda ridiculous. 

Raymond also thinks looking for Hoid could be dangerous and that we should go try and find the woman from the dust planet or the ‘Hoid Hunters’ (the 17th Shard). I don’t know if I agree with that just yet. Raymond seems pretty adamant on not going to the Shattered plains. I still think getting into the Palanaeum is still our best bet to get out of here as soon as possible and get back home. 

Meagan, Super secret heist theif person thing

Day 55, entry 21

Morning:   
We’re going to the Palanaeum today. I have a bunch of scripts prepared because people are probably going to talk to me and think I’m a light eyed lady of some kind. So my name today is ‘Ahnnah Kajas.’ It sounds suitably Alethi I think, but we really have no way of knowing. The naming conventions and how they work are still super strange to us. Raymond will be my dark eyed bodyguard and will keep the name Rayvin. I will point out here that I spell it ‘Rayvin’ because I think it looks cool, not because he told me to. Also it’s not like Raymond can read elvish yet (I’m teaching him). I’m all about those small victories and little pieces of joy.

Speaking of which I am really not experiencing many side effects of withdrawal anymore. I am extremely happy about this and thankfully my extra good memory is back to. The only downside is that controlling depression, anxiety, and OCD is just not happening. Panic attacks are pretty frequent, but I’ve had enough of them now that I’m lucid all the way though and I use the time to think of new ways for us to get home or solve other problems. 

Raymond has been having panic attacks to but he always puts on a stoick face and is mostly able to use his self regulating techniques to get himself through. He’s teaching me some of them, with mixed results. 

This is all besides the point! We need to talk about the plan for the Palanaeum today. I’ll explain it in steps.   
Get ready. I.C. dress the part. And have our stories straight.   
I am a light eyed lady from Kholinar who was traveling here on the orders of the woman who’s wardship I’m under. The Brightness wishes for her identity to remain a secret and she instructed me to find information for her research. However I was attacked by bandits on the way to the city and lost a good portion of my spheres and my spanreed. I’ve already sent word for the Brightness to send more spheres but they won’t be here for a while and she needs the information now. See if I can get in that way (though I feel like they will smell the bull shit it’s worth a good shot).   
2\. So assuming we make it into the Palanaeum we then use what spheres we can spare to get one of those little alcoves and start the research. Hopefully then in the alcove place we can both look through texts as there won’t be people walking around. If someone sees we can tell them Raymond likes looking at the pictures? And he was just sneaking a look? I really hope no one sees, because that is a worse story then ‘the reason we are here.’  
3\. After a week or so, just pick up and leave with our notes. Change our names and use the information to hopefully get home. 

I’m worried we’ll have to talk to the king of this city, but hopefully if we do it’ll be a compassionate day. 

Seriously praying to every god in existence, Meagan

Night:   
So the good news is that we’re alive. Though I’m often grabbing onto my legs to make sure they’re real. Raymond’s eyes are wide and he isn’t blinking regularly. We got into the Palanaeum and they are expecting us back tomorrow. 

How we got in was kinda nerve wracking. And by kinda I mean really fucking scary omg how are we still alive right now. So we did end up talking to Taravangian and he was having a compassionate day and let us in, but man, waiting for him to make the decision was scary. I seriously didn’t think he was going to believe us, but he did even though it was clear others around us didn’t believe a single word we said. In truth it was probably the worst possible thing for us to do, but still we didn’t have much choice otherwise. 

The Palanaeum itself was really really cool. Ok that’s not the best way to put it. It was just a lot, it took a little getting used to. It was like having a library in the Sistine Chapel… but it was a cave like place… and it was a lot bigger. Not that I’ve ever been to the Sistine Chapel. Honestly we got in… I’m exhausted. I’m going to bed. 

Meagan

Day 56, Transcription of Notes

(They seem to use a number system like the Dewey Decimal system. But I don’t think the numbers are the same. Instead of putting the titles I’m going to just put the numbers (in elvish) so we can find them later with ease. Also then people still won’t find out what we’re looking at as we have been grabbing books on multiple topics. I’ve been telling people the “Brightness’s” research is top secret and that I’m grabbing lots of books to mask what I’m actually looking at). 

453.22

There’s a story here about a traveler from a far away land that spoke differently and had strange customs. It says that in the end he died in a highstorm despite being told of their danger. Notes say this was used as a cautionary tale to deter children from running out into highstorms… apparently  
Another story about someone from Roshar (probably from the Alethkar area or Jah Keved) who traveled to a different land by accident. This person then encountered shit out of a fucked up acid trip and then returned home. The notes suggest this person was on some kind of hallucinogenic. It all seems to Alice in Wonderland for me to take seriously. 

673.54

Mostly children’s stories, I’m paying particular attention to the wise mentor characters, but it’s all pretty standard. No mention of where these people came from. 

88.39

Folk tales about the Horneater Mountains: a very suspicious amount of people have disappeared here. Though it states all those who returned went with stormlight. So it may be possible to cross over using stormlight (or it just requires energy of some kind). 

783.17

The nightwatcher… found her location. Will mark on the map as we may need her assistance. Though I’m not to keen on being cursed (or on Raymond being Cursed). 

(That’s about all the useful information we found today… I know it’s not a lot). 

Day 63, entry 22

We’ve spent the last two days just pouring over the information in all of these musty old books. I swear if I ever have to read by a blue or green light again I’m going to murder someone. On top of this we’ve found almost exactly nothing. I’m starting to think this was all just a waste of time. I have to keep thinking positively. 

In other news, Raymond has found some pretty steady work in the evenings. It really helps that they don’t use fire to much here as you can just light things with spheres. Definitely more economical. He’s been working as a bartender recently, and he seems quite popular with the locals (I think it’s because he’s good at reading people - he probably could have made a go at being a fortune teller if we weren’t on Rochar). He gets a few drinks a night so he’s pretty happy. I just hope he’s safe, but I have to trust his intuition. Ray has lived in rough areas before, he knows how to take care of himself. 

During the day we are both at the Palanaeum trying to find new information with varying degrees of failure. If we’re stuck here I think we should probably both become Ardents. We’d have to serve under someone who was nice though, definitely not Kholinar. 

In other news I’ve been seeing the red haired girl in the corridors of the Veil. I try to only look when she’s not and spend a good amount of time staring at my shoes. I’ve seen the princess too… that was way scarier. She is certainly a storm, no other way to describe her. As much as I’d love to have more encounters with her I seriously hope we don’t cross paths again. That however will be more difficult if we have to go to the Shattered Plains (then the ancient city). 

We’ve both been talking and we think that it would be best if we went to a place we know the world hopper will be. Ray is a bit concerned, as he is not someone easily found. I’m sure since we know the events that are to take place soon we should be able to pinpoint his exact location. Anyways if we leave soon then we can get there with time to settle before the red haired girl arrives which will be a good indication that Wit will be there soonish. 

No one’s going to be able to read this anyway I’m just going to use peoples names from now on. 

Meagan, failed researcher. 

Day 64, entry 23

We went to the Palanaeum in the morning as usual today to do research (there's no use wasting this opportunity to find out things about Rochar - also there may be information that is useful to an extent). So far I’ve been looking into Botany, and there are a lot of things to remember. I’ll try my best to copy pictures into this notebook but I’ve never been great at drawing. I guess that we’re lucky that we both have sort of a baseline knowledge of plants (mine from canoeing and Ray’s from boy scouts). There are quite a few edible plants (some you have to break through crem to get to, but other than that you just have to be fast enough to catch them before they go back into their burrows). It seems so weird to talk about plants as if they will run away from you, but that’s kinda just life now. 

So we were minding our own business when an Ardent walks in and starts asking all these questions about the lady I’m supposed to be the ward of, and when the money will be here. Ray stiffened, and I asked politely for the Ardent to leave but this man was persistent. I told him I hadn’t spoken to the woman since I heard the spheres would be sent. He didn’t seem to believe me but he left us alone. 

We’re leaving the city tonight. We both think it’s too dangerous for us to stay. I’m going to miss this place. 

Meagan, wanderer 

Day 65, entry 24

We didn’t check the highstorm calendar thing. We really should have. At least the rain will wash away all traces of us, we don’t know if they’ll pursue us. Ray says they won’t, I’m not so sure. I should calm down, Ray is usually (if not always) right. There’s nothing to worry about. 

We were able to find a small cave type thing in the side of a hill, and that’s where we are right now. There’s barely enough room for the both of us together, and definitely not enough room for me to keep writing. I hope this storm passes soon, we’re both pretty soaked. 

Squished and drenched, Meagan

Day 77, entry 25

There’s nothing like living through a High Storm. I can understand what Kaladin was feeling in the books. It’s loud, scary, intimidating, but also passion and life. It feels like the whole of Rochar is reborn every time a High Strom passes. It may not be fun to sit through, praying to whatever higher power in a vain attempt to save yourself from death (or at least from injury). In those moments you think nothing can survive this, there’s no way anything could live. Everything outside must be dead, but then when you exit your house or cave you see life. You see how the world around has adapted to these significant abrupt changes in climate. It reminds me of the resilience of humans to survive against all odds. We are a race of malleable people and we do not break easily. This world was not meant for people like us, but humans here live and thrive despite the odds. 

Raymond and I had a long conversation about this very topic on the road today (road being a general term). He’s carrying the map, directing us towards the next town. We will decide what to do when we get there.

We’re starting to recognize when High Storms are coming. It’s a slight humidity in the air, not long before the first of the rain sheets hits us. I’m less frightened then I used to be. I still don’t relish the idea of weathering an Ever Storm, but as the days go by I see no other option. 

I’m glad Raymond is with me. I couldn’t do this without him, and as much as I wish I were elsewhere - I would rather be here with him than somewhere else without him. As cheesy as that sounds. All I can hope is this is only one of our adventures together, something we tell our children one day. Something they think is made up, even though it’s a truth we lived through. I hope for us to look on this fondly one day. That the things that will stick in our minds will be the nights under the stars making up stories about constellations we find. 

Sincerely, Meagan


End file.
